The NTSB will gather Tuesday to give a cause for the accident in August 2011 that killed four people


WASHINGTON — A medevac pilot was sending and receiving text messages before a crash that killed all four people on board, it emerged Monday.


Bloomberg.com reported that it's the first time such distractions have been implicated in a fatal commercial aviation accident.

The NTSB will gather Tuesday to give a cause for the accident in August 2011 that killed four people – patient Terry Tacoronte, Pilot James Freudenbert, Randy Bever, a flight nurse, and Chris Frakes, a paramedic – and to discuss the documented seven texts sent and received by the pilot prior to the crash, according to the article.

Freudenbert, 34, disclosed to a coworker before the crash that he hadn’t slept well the night before his flight and he failed to refuel the helicopter before flying to a hospital in Bethany, Missouri, according to NTSB records.

He recognized the mistake after landing at the hospital and spoke to a company dispatcher about where he could get more fuel and was headed to Midwest National Air Center Airport before the helicopter crashed, according to Bloomberg.

The Air Methods Corp. (AIRM) helicopter crashed in a field after running out of fuel. Electronic devices used by pilots during flight are prohibited by company rules, according to the reports. 

“This is a classic example of dividing attention in a way that compromises safety,” David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who has studied how personal electronic devices cause distraction, told Bloomberg.

Full article: http://www.ems1.com/air-medical-transport/articles/1429050-Texting-while-flying-linked-to-fatal-medevac-crash/

The report led to 26 of Waterloo Region's 171 paramedics being disciplined, including the firing of two and the departure of ambulance chief John Prno

WATERLOO, Canada — A damning report says local paramedics failed to consistently follow patient-care standards and led to the departure of three staff members, including the director.

But authorities stress they have no evidence of any patient being harmed as a result of paramedics failing to follow regulations.

"There is no evidence of harm, but we can't be 100 per cent sure of that. We only know what we have the evidence for," Dr. Liana Nolan, regional medical officer of health told reporters Friday.

The report led to 26 of Waterloo Region's 171 paramedics being disciplined, including the firing of two and the departure of ambulance chief John Prno. The ambulance service is administered by the region.

A provincial ministry review of 562 of the highest level of emergency ambulance calls from January to August of last year found that in many cases paramedics failed to administer oxygen when required by patients' condition, failed to do spinal immobilization and failed to follow other procedures.

Officials said paramedics were lax in documenting patient care, such as not noting a patient's vital signs or reasons for walking a patient to a stretcher. False information was also documented on more than half of the ambulance calls.

"The bottom line is the paramedics were exercising discretion when they shouldn't have" and no one was saying this was wrong, Nolan said.

"They weren't intentionally trying to harm people," she said.

Nolan said the problem came to light last July when an ambulance supervisor noticed an ambulance on a Code 4 - the most serious and urgent emergency call - drive through an intersection without activating lights and sirens, which is required under both the Ambulance Act and Highway Traffic Act.

An internal investigation was immediately launched and what it revealed was a broader problem and the Ministry of Health was contacted, Nolan said.

"We have taken this very seriously," she said.

About 15 per cent of the department's unionized paramedics were disciplined, including eight who were given written notices, 16 suspended and two fired.

Full article: http://www.ems1.com/ems-management/articles/1428888-26-Canada-medics-disciplined-after-review/